Walt & Burley — Restaurant in District of Canberra Central

Walt & Burley So disappointed! Don’t waste your money, go anywhere else.

Arrived 6:30pm the place was barely 25% capacity. We were offered a table near the window and sat down to find that the tabletop was very dirty & incredibly sticky including the edge and underside of table. We were unable to get the attention of anyone who worked there to ask them to give the table a wipe down, so I used a wet wipe I had in my handbag which ended up so filthy after a quick wipe.

No QR code on table 7 so went up to order at the bar, ordered 2 steaks (The Rump, The Scotch Fillet) as well as 2 Patron Paloma cocktails - went to pay with cash and were promptly told they do not accept cash!!! The drinks took 25 mins to get to the table despite 3-4 people behind the bar with at least 2 just standing around - the drinks (at least the first round) were excellent, given the long wait I went up to order 2 more. These drinks came more promptly but were completely different, including the addition of an orange slice which the first round did not have, they tasted weak and watery and did not have the lovely freshness of grapefruit the first drinks had.

The meals arrived about 45mins after ordering and the waiter actually had his thumb so far into the face of my plate that his thumb was sitting in the juices from the steak. One steak came with a steak knife and the other did not, I guess because it was hacked into slices by the kitchen (this premature slicing caused the juices to leach out) a steak knife was eventually provided and even though I raised the issue with the waiter about his thumb in my food he just shrugged and walked away. The sliced rump was ordered rare and came with a chimmichurri sauce - the problem was that the sauce was ice cold straight from the fridge, a rare steak isn’t super hot to start with, so it was all very cold and unpleasant. The jalapeños were raw and could’ve been so much better with any kind of treatment (charring dor light pickling) - they offered nothing to the dish. Steak and smashed potatoes were not seasoned at all and everything just lacked finesse. The other steak was just ok, it was sliced very thin and I doubt it weighed 300gm, chips were not seasoned at all.

When leaving I wanted to raise a couple of these points with staff, but there was not a soul to be seen, I waited a few minutes but no one seemed to be there. Lucky they take your money (but not cash) before you eat.

I never leave reviews - I just simply do not go back! I now see that there are lots of previous previous reviews leaving only one star and I only wish I had read them before wasting my money dining at this establishment. I also note that up until a year ago someone from management would respond to reviews and they seemed genuinely apologetic, concerned as well as wanting to better the dining experience by learning from the mistakes - but no responses from management on reviews lately, which I’m going to guess is a direct reflection of lack of management and no one has a clue how to offer decent customer service.

As a resident of Kingston, as well as someone in charge of organising large groups of people for corporate get togethers / dinners at various pubs - this is definitely one I will never go back to, nor would I inflict it on others, or recommend...

We made a booking for NYE for 16 of us, and then two weeks later the manager (or she claimed to be) insisted that she was going to cancel our booking if the entire party didn’t pay $70 per head. This was quite a shock and there was never any mention of the expectation to pay this, but the manager insisted it wasn’t her staff to blame, they were all fully aware of the NYE function packages. So aside from blaming the customer for something we didn’t do, the manager was also disgustingly rude, interrupting me continuously, telling me she was cancelling our booking unless we paid and then told me to speak to the Operations manager, but then refusing to give me the contact details for this person, and rudely hung up the phone as I was asking for the contact details. Ringing back, I was apparently met with the OM who had no idea what his job entailed, as he clearly stated ‘I don’t know what you want me to do’ and then insisted as well that his staff are all fully trained and knew the procedures, and that this was somehow my fault. After he made several disgraceful assumptions about myself and my other guests, the OM decided to tell me he did not have time to speak to me, apparently he was the only one working and I was wasting his time, then hung up on me.

This was also not the first time we have received such disgraceful customer service from staff at Walt and Burley. The first time, we were made to feel like we weren’t welcome and that our money was useless there. All we had done was come in and sit down for a few drinks and staff kept trying to hurry us up, even clearing away drinks that were still cold and half full on several occasions, not offering apologies and it was only 7pm on a Friday. I was the one who opted to give them the benefit of the doubt, but I have been incredibly let down by their lack of quality customer service and their complete and utter lack of...

I went here for the first time tonight for the songwriters competition this establishment was holding. Kudos to management for supporting local music. It's very community orientated and I appreciate it.

To those saying its overpriced... Are you new? to like the world??? Kingston foreshore in general is a pricey location to eat with few exceptions. Walt & Barley had lighter dinner options for $12 with meals going up to over $30. So average prices. Perhaps surprising to those expecting pub prices but I would describe it as more restaurant then pub due to not only the food but decor, child friendly atmosphere, location, I could go on. The decor was hip but also fashionably chic, which was part of the reason I was shocked to see the toilet in such disarray. Obviously not recently cleaned. Even when clean the decor, low quality facilities and more make it so it could never look more then a Gas Station bathroom. I'm assuming no one else used these facilities as even in the many 1 star reviews I saw no mention of this. Shocking.

Saying all that. I wasn't a fan of the Burley burger that I ordered. I normally find burgers a safe bet but rather then blaming the cooks let's just say it's not my taste. I would love to see an audition of another burger. Perhaps BBQ chicken. Something a bit "tastier", saucier etc.

The chips though, amazing.

I didn't notice drink prices although, if what another reviewer said is true and soft drink jugs are $16? Outrageous. Mark up should not...